News

André Jacque: an enemy to women’s health care

Posted June 7, 2018

“His extreme record shows no regard for the health, safety and dignity of Wisconsin women or vital, life-saving research”

MADISON -- In his run for the hotly contested special election for Senate District 1, Rep. André Jacque has been hiding from his long, ultra-extremist record of undermining women’s access to health care. Jacque, who has been the most strident anti-choice activist in the Assembly, has pushed legislation that would have seriously jeopardized health-care access for Wisconsin women -- including outlawing common forms of birth control.

“No one in the Wisconsin legislature is more extreme on women’s health issues than André Jacque,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin communications director Melanie Conklin. “Jacque champions legislation that would have -- quite literally -- put Wisconsin women’s lives at risk. His backwards and extreme ideas have no place in the state Senate.”

Over the years, André Jacque has made it his mission to eliminate women’s health-care options, taking stances so extreme it even caused fellow Republicans to distance themselves from him. As a state representative, Jacque introduced a constitutional amendment to make all abortions illegal with no exceptions for victims of rape and incest or women whose life was at a risk. He’s even voted to curb women’s access to birth control, going so far as seeking to ban all forms of hormonal contraception.

Jacque even went so far as to author legislation that would have ended life-saving research being done in Wisconsin. Groundbreaking research on cancer, heart disease, Parkinson’s disease, blindness and diabetes could have ground to a halt under Jacque’s anti-stem cell bill. And Wisconsin’s biotech industry, including the many jobs it supplies, would have been decimated. A UW dean said the bill would make these researchers “criminals” and their “research would be shut down. It’s quite chilling.”

“André Jacque’s extreme record shows no regard for the health, safety and dignity of Wisconsin women or vital, life-saving research,”Conklin said. “Instead of listening to his constituents, who just want access to basic health care, Jacque is motivated to eliminate women’s health care options at any cost.

“The residents of SD-1 want to be represented by someone who values making health care affordable and accessible. Caleb Frostman will go to bat for the right of every Wisconsinite to make the health-care choices that are right for them and their families.”